Welp, My PC's Dead, Time To Get A New One

I'm curious as well. I've still never had a bad experience with Newegg, even after all this time.

I used to always order from Newegg, but for the last few years, Amazon consistently has better prices.

I use a mixture of both...Amazon charges tax so most of the time Newegg is cheaper..I get free shipping now as well with Neweggs version of Prime.

Thin_J wrote:

I'm curious as well. I've still never had a bad experience with Newegg, even after all this time.

Alright, so!

I got things sorted out with them. Basically, for reasons unknown, their website was refusing to take the card I was giving them, despite the fact that VISA was saying (repeatedly) that it shouldn't have been getting declined. It was weird, but we got it sorted out, and they even gave me a small credit since I genuinely did get a CSR who hung up on me.

So! I got all the parts! And it put them all together without destroying the whole damn PC!

And I even installed Windows 8 from a USB stick, even though I found out that it's actually a bit of a rigamarole to do it from a OEM disc, rather than a retail version.

However, all is not yet well in Mudville. I have two problems remaining.

1.) The computer isn't recognizing my backup HDD, the 4 TB one. The first time I booted the machine up, I had it in the SATA 1 slot, and I wanted the SSD in that place, so I turned it off, switched the SATA plugs, turned it back on. Now, the computer seems to be recognizing the SSD just fine (obviously, Windows 8 is installed and running on it) but the HDD? Nothing. I've tried plugging it in to a bunch of different SATA slots on the motherboard, nothing yet. I'm gonna do a little more research, because I don't think it's busted, but who knows, I guess. I considered putting it back into the SATA slot where the SSD is plugged in right now, but I'm terrified that might ruin the whole damn thing.

2.) I can't connect to the internet. Windows says it's a problem with my Network Adapter, that the software or something needs to be updated. The only way I can imagine to do that right now would be to see if it's on the DVD that came with the motherboard, which ostensibly means that I need to buy an optical drive for this machine after all.

Other than that though, all seems to be well!

Now, the computer seems to be recognizing the SSD just fine (obviously, Windows 8 is installed and running on it) but the HDD?

Pop into the system BIOS, and make sure that the drive is showing up there when you look at the info for the SATA ports. Also, while you're there, make sure to put the ports into "AHCI mode".... AHCI is a newer standard for SATA that makes drivers simpler, and makes drives run faster. The older 'compatibility mode' makes them look like old-style IDE ports to the software, which is slower, and RAID mode will usually make the driver situation more complex.

If you're already in RAID mode, changing to AHCI might potentially make the system fail to boot -- if so, change back. It's not worth a full reinstall to avoid RAID mode, so you can just leave it there if you need to.

If the drive isn't visible from the BIOS, check your cabling, including the power. If it does show there, but not in Windows, try going into Disk Management... on Win7, one way to there is by right-clicking on My Computer, choosing Manage, and then Disk Management in the left column. I have no idea how to do that on Win8, but it'll be there somewhere.

Look for the drive there... it'll probably be listed, but it may not have a partition and/or a drive letter. Remember that your main drive and USB key will also show there, so be careful not to get confused about which is which.

Windows says it's a problem with my Network Adapter, that the software or something needs to be updated.

I guess Win8 doesn't have a driver for those new Intel ports. Use the computer you're on now to download the driver from the manufacturer's website, and stick it on a USB key -- you can probably use the same drive you used for the Windows install, just adding it to what's already there. Then run it from the other computer, and you should be fine.

Alternately, you can use another computer to copy the drivers from the motherboard CD to the key, but the website version may be newer.

Above and beyond frustration.

So basically, I followed Malor's advice, got the HDD working and was updating drivers when I met my new friend:

WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR

It popped up the first time when I was updating my graphics card driver, and then again and again and again. I wiped the HD and reinstalled Windows, it appeared again when I updated the network adapter driver. It pops up so often it prevents Windows from doing its diagnostic startup.

I'm going to try formatting the SSD and trying once more, but at this point, I'm wondering if my apartment is jinxed.

EDIT: Posting from the new PC. So, after restart #36 (it literally wasn't letting Windows start at all, until suddenly it did) it seems to be allowing Windows to run, or at least it has for the last 7-10 minutes. I'm not expecting this to last.

Also I noticed when the machine attempted to repair itself, it had stopped recognizing my USB stick as a potential boot source. Everything's coming up Prederick!

EDIT v2: 30 full minutes without rebooting! A new record!

This is kind of darkly hilarious. I've gone from a OLD computer I was scared to turn off because it might not turn on again, to blowing $1400 on a NEW computer I'm scared to turn off because it might not turn on again.

EDIT v3: 4:57! I almost got a full hour out of this thing!

EDIT v4: Wait! I tweaked the cooling settings in the BiOS, which it mentioned might cause the system to become unstable! (The default setting assumes I have a Box fan on the CPU, when I have a tower fan.)

Well, I mean, it started up okay, at least. Maybe that fixed it? I read somewhere online that the WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR came from the CPU so... maybe that fixed it? We'll see. At least, for the next 10-20 minutes, I have internet. I mean, it let me install Firefox! Wasn't doing that before.

That particular error indicates a hardware fault. It's very unlikely to be the cooling thing; Intel chips have a self-throttle mechanism, where they just slow down when they're overheating, instead of throwing errors. If you've got a CPU cooling issue, you'll see that as a speed problem, not an error problem. (you may also get beeps from your motherboard, depending on your BIOS.)

My suspicion is either a bad drive, or bad RAM. Drives seem the most likely problem, as you're having quite noticeable issues in that area. But there's one really easy thing you can do: remove and reseat all your RAM, just in case. Make sure the sticks are in nice and snug, clicked all the way in. That just takes a couple minutes. I think it's less likely than drives, but because it's so simple, and because RAM can throw that kind of error, what the heck.

If the system is still unstable, then what I'd probably try would be using just one drive at a time. Start with your SSD, with the big drive detached, and try a new install. Do a full format on the drive during install, just in case. Then see how your stability is.

If it's still wonky, try detaching the SSD, and doing an install on the hard drive. See if anything changes.

In either case, don't activate Windows yet. You have thirty days before Windows gets mad at you, so give yourself time to get your hardware issues fixed, and all your drivers installed and your BIOS updated and such. I always wait at least a week before activation on a new install, just in case. That'll let you install as many times as you need to, without forcing you to call in to get an activation code.

Oh, and if it's still wonky with both drives, then the next thing I'd try would be Memtest86+. Note that the last version of that I downloaded had just gone to a multithreaded version, which didn't work reliably on either of the computers I tried it on.... you may want to use the singlethreaded version for safety.

Some BIOSes actually have a version built in, so snoop around in there before downloading anything.

In re-reading an article that I found when looking up your error, I spotted mention of Windows Memory Diagnostic, which is included, apparently, with both Win7 and 8. I haven't actually run it, but if you go into Control Panel, and then Administrative Tools, you can invoke it down at the bottom. It will apparently reboot your machine, and run a RAM test.

Dunno how good it is, but that's pretty low-effort.

I would remove the 4TB drive.. do a complete clean install on the SSD connected to the SATA port that you want to use for good (usually a native Intel Port). If you can copy the entire contents of the CD that came with your mobo to the USB drive in a subfolder and run the Setup wizard to install all the relevant mobo drivers.. then do all the Microsoft updates.. then do your GPU.

Then add the 4TB and format as a GPT device with a single partition (if you want you can make multiple as well)

I always do clean installs with a single hard drive connected.. you can certainly do it fine with other HD's connected but I've seen people screw it up more times than not so I tend to follow what I tell others and connect up all my HD's after the OS is completed.

Ugh, this is so weird.

So last night, after I tweaked the BiOS, the computer's been running. It ran all night without throwing a fit or restarting, which was a pretty big surprise. But I'm trying to find the problem exactly.

Malor wrote:

In re-reading an article that I found when looking up your error, I spotted mention of Windows Memory Diagnostic, which is included, apparently, with both Win7 and 8. I haven't actually run it, but if you go into Control Panel, and then Administrative Tools, you can invoke it down at the bottom. It will apparently reboot your machine, and run a RAM test.

Dunno how good it is, but that's pretty low-effort.

That didn't find anything.

Malor wrote:

My suspicion is either a bad drive, or bad RAM. Drives seem the most likely problem, as you're having quite noticeable issues in that area. But there's one really easy thing you can do: remove and reseat all your RAM, just in case. Make sure the sticks are in nice and snug, clicked all the way in. That just takes a couple minutes. I think it's less likely than drives, but because it's so simple, and because RAM can throw that kind of error, what the heck.

If the system is still unstable, then what I'd probably try would be using just one drive at a time. Start with your SSD, with the big drive detached, and try a new install. Do a full format on the drive during install, just in case. Then see how your stability is.

If it's still wonky, try detaching the SSD, and doing an install on the hard drive. See if anything changes.

I'll give this a shot when I get home tonight.

I also noticed while trying to do some basic stuff today, that Adobe Flash is borked in Firefox for some reason. Any attempt to view flash video (YouTube, for instance) in Firefox ended up with a error called "FlashPlayerPlugin_13_0_0_214.exe - Bad Image" saying that "C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\aticfx32.dll is not designed to run on Windows or it contains an error".

I tried uninstalling and reinstalling adobe flash twice, no luck, so maybe that's related to my problem? Because video works just fine in IE right now.

Either way, when I get home tonight I'll try deconnecting the HDD, formatting the SSD and trying again.

"FlashPlayerPlugin_13_0_0_214.exe - Bad Image" saying that "C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\aticfx32.dll is not designed to run on Windows or it contains an error".

That sounds like a bad drive to me.... or a faulty controller that's writing bad data. But bad drive seems more likely.

edit: I said this already, but just in case: if it's still screwing up with just the SSD connected, try installing Windows onto the HDD, with no SSD attached. It would not shock me at all if the system immediately started working correctly.

Malor wrote:
"FlashPlayerPlugin_13_0_0_214.exe - Bad Image" saying that "C:WindowsSYSTEM32aticfx32.dll is not designed to run on Windows or it contains an error".

That sounds like a bad drive to me.... or a faulty controller that's writing bad data. But bad drive seems more likely.

Maybe. Like I said, YouTube et al all work just fine in IE though. Only Firefox is having that trouble.

edit: I said this already, but just in case: if it's still screwing up with just the SSD connected, try installing Windows onto the HDD, with no SSD attached. It would not shock me at all if the system immediately started working correctly.

We'll see. Like I said, I left the machine running overnight and have been using it for the last hour or so, with no trouble. The BSOD hasn't appeared since. Right now, the only visible issue is this thing with Firefox and Flash.

Welp. Disconnected the HDD, totally formatted the SSD, re-installed windows, and as of this moment...

/knocks on wood
//knocks on a tree
///knocks on the molecular structure of wood

...all seems to be okay. I updated my drivers fine (I couldn't before), I installed Chrome fine and watched a YouTube video just now with no trouble...

...all seems to be going well.

Hmm, if the machine seems stable, you might want to just RMA the HDD without ever reconnecting it. It might have just been a loose cable or something, but if the drive itself is causing the problem, reconnecting it could give you all kinds of subtle problems.

If you want to try to keep that specific drive, I'd do another basic install with only the SSD attached, and then immediately hook up the HDD, and proceed to use the system normally. In other words... do the minimum possible with the single drive, just long enough to be certain that the OS is installed only there, and then hook up the HDD as quickly as possible thereafter, to try to force errors early on.

Okay, so I've been (mostly) following along with this thread because sometime in the next half year or so I'll probably be in the market to build a machine very similar to what Prederick was looking for here. And since the news out of E3 has me pretty sure it will be at least another year before I'll really feel compelled to pick up a PS4, though, I'm thinking sooner rather than later now.

Here is the build I'm currently looking at after reading this thread: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/zeroKFE...

Here are a few more specifics about my situation, though, as I'd very much welcome any input you guys might have about how I might tweak the build to suit me a bit better:

- First and foremost, this machine is for gaming only. My old Mac Pro will continue to serve as my primary browser, media server, and set top box since it does those things just fine for now (and when it stops, I'll replace it with a Mac Mini or something). As such, my storage requirements are a bit different -- I'm definitely getting an SSD for my main drive, but for my bulk storage I'm more interested in performance and reliability than size, so good solid 1 TB or so drive is probably going to be appropriate.

- I want this machine to last, both in terms of component build quality and performance, so I'd love to hear if any of the components I'm looking at are either known to be cheap or are unlikely to stand the test of time. Also, there was a lot of heated discussion earlier about the i5 vs the i7 and future proofing with respect to gaming, and I think I'm okay with taking the discount and going with the i5, but I'm open to being convinced otherwise. (I'm totally okay with upgrading the GPU in a few years time, by the way -- I'm mostly talking about other components here.)

- I've only ever really built out 1U servers for work since I've generally just used Apple hardware at home. As such, there are a few things I'm lacking the experience to judge well. Notably, I'm not certain whether a 500W power supply will be sufficient here, but I'm also worried about what I might not know I should be worried about.

- My experience with Windows 8 has been limited to browser testing for work, and I generally deplore the experience I've had with it. That said, we keep our test boxes very close to default settings. Is it really possible to make the UI/UX close to or better than the Windows 7 experience? Again, this box is for gaming only, so I'm not going to be super picky about it, and if it's really going to offer much better performance and compatibility, that's probably enough.

- I'm okay with the price here, but I'd certainly be happier if I could drop it by $100 or so, although again not at the expense of build quality/longevity.

- Any other reason why I might want to consider waiting more than a month or two to build a machine? Big price drops expected, upcoming product line refreshes, etc?

zeroKFE wrote:

Okay, so I've been (mostly) following along with this thread because sometime in the next half year or so I'll probably be in the market to build a machine very similar to what Prederick was looking for here. And since the news out of E3 has me pretty sure it will be at least another year before I'll really feel compelled to pick up a PS4, though, I'm thinking sooner rather than later now.

Here is the build I'm currently looking at after reading this thread: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/zeroKFE...

Here are a few more specifics about my situation, though, as I'd very much welcome any input you guys might have about how I might tweak the build to suit me a bit better:

- First and foremost, this machine is for gaming only. My old Mac Pro will continue to serve as my primary browser, media server, and set top box since it does those things just fine for now (and when it stops, I'll replace it with a Mac Mini or something). As such, my storage requirements are a bit different -- I'm definitely getting an SSD for my main drive, but for my bulk storage I'm more interested in performance and reliability than size, so good solid 1 TB or so drive is probably going to be appropriate.

- I want this machine to last, both in terms of component build quality and performance, so I'd love to hear if any of the components I'm looking at are either known to be cheap or are unlikely to stand the test of time. Also, there was a lot of heated discussion earlier about the i5 vs the i7 and future proofing with respect to gaming, and I think I'm okay with taking the discount and going with the i5, but I'm open to being convinced otherwise. (I'm totally okay with upgrading the GPU in a few years time, by the way -- I'm mostly talking about other components here.)

- I've only ever really built out 1U servers for work since I've generally just used Apple hardware at home. As such, there are a few things I'm lacking the experience to judge well. Notably, I'm not certain whether a 500W power supply will be sufficient here, but I'm also worried about what I might not know I should be worried about.

- My experience with Windows 8 has been limited to browser testing for work, and I generally deplore the experience I've had with it. That said, we keep our test boxes very close to default settings. Is it really possible to make the UI/UX close to or better than the Windows 7 experience? Again, this box is for gaming only, so I'm not going to be super picky about it, and if it's really going to offer much better performance and compatibility, that's probably enough.

- I'm okay with the price here, but I'd certainly be happier if I could drop it by $100 or so, although again not at the expense of build quality/longevity.

- Any other reason why I might want to consider waiting more than a month or two to build a machine? Big price drops expected, upcoming product line refreshes, etc?

Couple things off the top of my head.

1. I would definately bump to the i7. Games are becoming more and more multithreaded with the new consoles and the extra 4 threads will help in the future.

2. Not sure what sort of budget you're on, but if all possible I would bump the video card up to a 290 if you can. The 290 and 290x are based on the new Hawaii core so it's going serve you better and longer down the road. There are some crazy good deals out there for them these days.

3. I would get a bigger, better quality power supply. Corsair makes good ones but if I'm not mistaken the builder series is their budget line. Again..I think this depends on what sort of budget you're working with.

4. I run Windows 8.1 with classicshell (classicshell.net). I've turned alll the metro stuff off and if you set down at my PC today would you would probably think it was Win7 if you didn't know. Definately go with 8.1.

Edit: Might wait to wait on Intel's haswell refresh (Devil's Canyon).

2. Not sure what sort of budget you're on, but if all possible I would bump the video card up to a 290 if you can. The 290 and 290x are based on the new Hawaii core so it's going serve you better and longer down the road. There are some crazy good deals out there for them these days.

The $1100 quoted in my part picker is fine. Pushing much higher is okay, but only if it's really justifiable. For example, I'm much more concerned about the longevity of the CPU than the GPU, because the relative difficulty of replacing it goes along way toward justifying another $100 or so (also, I'm taking it as a given that the GPU will be getting replaced in three or four years). I'll definitely look a bit closer at the difference between the 280 and the 290, though.

3. I would get a bigger, better quality power supply. Corsair makes good ones but if I'm not mistaken the builder series is their budget line. Again..I think this depends on what sort of budget you're working with.

This is definitely something I'm willing to spend more on if it makes sense -- I grabbed that option based on the builds discussed earlier in the thread, but given how often I hear people complaining about power supply issues, I'm not interested in being cheap there.

4. I run Windows 8.1 with classicshell (classicshell.net). I've turned alll the metro stuff off and if you set down at my PC today would you would probably think it was Win7 if you didn't know. Definately go with 8.1.

Good enough for me. Thanks!

EDIT: Any reason I should spring for the Pro version? I know the lesser versions of Windows 7 were crippled in a lot of ways (such as language support), but it looks like for 8 the big differences are around remote desktop, hard drive encryption, and enterprise networking, none of which I need on a gaming PC.

You might want WD or Hitachi for your bulk drive... we don't really know what Seagate is like in the higher end, but we know that cheap Seagate drives have very poor reliability, cheap WDs are pretty good, and cheap Hitachis are excellent. This may not translate to more expensive models, but that's the only data we have, so extrapolating based on that is probably safer than the typical wild-arsed guess.

Very good to know!

Well, I'd probably nudge you toward the 4930K, pending results from early adopters.

That might be a bit more of a price jump than I'm comfortable with, but definitely duly noted.

EDIT: Part picker doesn't seem to think this the 4930k is compatible with my build -- the motherboard, I guess? Any suggestions to address that if I was going to look at the big CPU buy?

Video cards in general have been staying right around 200 watts for the flagships, so AMD going up to 300 is unusual, and may not be worth planning around. But if you think you might go that high-end someday ($450ish, I believe), you might prefer a 600 watt supply.

Any suggestions for a good 600w supply then?

Also note that Intel will be shipping a new chipset either late this year or early next, which will move memory to DDR4. The normal process when this happens is that the old memory will get very cheap for awhile as vendors try to clear out the old stuff, and then it will get very expensive. So, while 8 gigs is fine for now, I'd suggest grabbing another 8 when Broadwell ships, because that will probably be the cheapest you'll ever be able to do it. I suspect 16 gigs will last you for the life of that machine.

Even 8 might, but I think the expansion will be pretty cheap.

Yeah, that was sort of the plan -- I'd be buying 16 gigs up front if ram wasn't unusually pricy right now, and I figured that 8 would be just fine until it goes back down.

As such, my storage requirements are a bit different -- I'm definitely getting an SSD for my main drive, but for my bulk storage I'm more interested in performance and reliability than size, so good solid 1 TB or so drive is probably going to be appropriate.

You might want WD or Hitachi for your bulk drive... we don't really know what Seagate is like in the higher end, but we know that cheap Seagate drives have very poor reliability, cheap WDs are pretty good, and cheap Hitachis are excellent. This may not translate to more expensive models, but that's the only data we have, so extrapolating based on that is probably safer than the typical wild-arsed guess.

Also, there was a lot of heated discussion earlier about the i5 vs the i7 and future proofing with respect to gaming, and I think I'm okay with taking the discount and going with the i5, but I'm open to being convinced otherwise.

Well, the very new (last week!) 4930K4790K might be of great interest; it starts at 4GHz, and officially turbos to 4.4, but Intel itself is claiming that you can comfortably overclock it to 5GHz on air cooling, and they're even selling, get this, insurance policies against cooking it. ($35 on that chip.) The chip itself is $330 officially, although I'm seeing some early ones under $300.

I'm presently waiting to see what kind of actual results people are getting with it, but it's sounding awfully good. It looks to be the first significant advance in processor speed since the 2600K, three years ago. You've been able to OC the later chips to about match the 2600K for total throughput, but none of them have truly beaten it... this is the first chip that definitely does. And, if you get a good one, it might really spank a 2600K.

If you're buying to last, I think you're going to want one of those.

Notably, I'm not certain whether a 500W power supply will be sufficient here,

Well, the 280's TDP is apparently 200 watts, and even with a ridiculous overclock, the rest of the system shouldn't take more than 200, so a 500W supply should be fine. It would not be safe, however, to go with 290X in that system, as those cards take 300 watts, and that wouldn't give you any margin.

Video cards in general have been staying right around 200 watts for the flagships, so AMD going up to 300 is unusual, and may not be worth planning around.

edit: I see Gumbie is pointing you toward that 290X. If you're going up that high, you'll want at least a 600, or even 750 to give yourself some headroom. In that power range, Seasonic supplies are some of the best you can buy, but they're pretty expensive.

Is it really possible to make the UI/UX close to or better than the Windows 7 experience?

Well, you can apparently struggle it into something vaguely similar, but you still have the hot corners and other UI bullsh*t to deal with. It's claimed, however, that several games run better on 8: EA's Frostbite engine is probably the leading example. Whether that's worth it is up to you. I'm waiting for Win 9, myself.

I'm okay with the price here, but I'd certainly be happier if I could drop it by $100 or so, although again not at the expense of build quality/longevity.

Well, I'd probably nudge you toward the 4930K4790K, pending results from early adopters.

We're in a weird spot right now, where this generation of console is new, and matching them on a PC is more expensive than usual, so my recommendations are going higher than they have in the past.

3G of video memory is enough for now, but there are games coming out soon that will use more, so if you want the very best textures, you may want a card with 4 gigs instead. However, since you already know you're going to be replacing it midstream somewhere, you could stick with the cheaper one for now, run with textures at High instead of Ultra, and then upgrade in a couple more years.

Also note that Intel will be shipping a new chipset either late this year or early next, which will move memory to DDR4. The normal process when this happens is that the old memory will get very cheap for awhile as vendors try to clear out the old stuff, and then it will get very expensive. So, while 8 gigs is fine for now, I'd suggest grabbing another 8 when Broadwell ships, because that will probably be the cheapest you'll ever be able to do it. I suspect 16 gigs will last you for the life of that machine.

Even 8 might, but I think the expansion will be pretty cheap.

edit to add: note that DDR4 itself is almost entirely unexciting. You'll see some improvement in a few very bandwidth-intensive benchmarks, but the absolute latency is the same on DDR4 as DDR3, and latency is usually the the big problem for games. Broadwell will probably run cooler than Haswell, but it doesn't look like it will be faster for gaming, so there really doesn't appear to be any reason to wait.

Ooh, I got the model wrong! The 4930K is a different chip. What I'm talking about is the 4790K. Sorry!

HardOCP talks about it here. They're saying 4.7GHz, not 5, and aren't overwhelmingly impressed.

edit: fixed the original post, too.

Malor wrote:

edit: I see Gumbie is pointing you toward that 290X290. If you're going up that high, you'll want at least a 600, or even 750 to give yourself some headroom. In that power range, Seasonic supplies are some of the best you can buy, but they're pretty expensive.

290

Also, zerokfe would you be opposed to buying a used 290 at a great price that's been well taken care of? I'm not selling one but a guy on neogaf is selling a few of these

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...

for $300 a piece.

zeroKFE wrote:

Any suggestions for a good 600w supply then?

SeaSonic M12II 620 Bronze 620W

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...

It's a little pricer than most but Seasonic uses very high quality components and they have a proven track record. You're very right in thinking the one component you don't want to skimp on is the power supply...if they go boom they can leave a trail of destruction with your pc components.

Also here's a 280 review that shows game benchmarks compared to several cards (including the 290)

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/gra...

Also here's a 280 review that shows game benchmarks compared to several cards (including the 290)

Ouch, that definitely makes the choice difficult.

Okay, so my revised options thanks to all your helpful input:

i5, 280, ~$1150: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/zeroKFE...

i7, 280, ~$1260: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/zeroKFE...

I7, 290, ~$1410: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/zeroKFE...

Any other tweaks or modifications you guys would make to any of these options?

Those all look fine to me. All three builds should work very nicely. The middle one adds some legs with the better CPU, and the high-end one will probably push the eventual video card upgrade out another year or so, and should let you run most games at maximum settings for some time to come.

It would not shock me in the slightest if the 4790K lasted five years, possibly even longer. I think it's quite possible you might get the same mileage out of the middle or high-end builds that you got out of your Mac Pro.

Just popping in to say that I'm glad you took the Seasonic advice. Their 5 year warranty will pay for itself over the long run. Most "normal" power supplies come with a two year warranty and I wouldn't trust them a day past it.

It should be noted that Corsair has been offering a 7 year warranty on their higher end models. Their lower end, like the Builder series, only offers a 3 year warranty. You may pay $10 or $30 dollars more now, but to have a warranty that lasts 5 years is well worth it.

Cool, thanks again -- now all that's left is to figure out when to pull the trigger.

zeroKFE wrote:
Also here's a 280 review that shows game benchmarks compared to several cards (including the 290)

Ouch, that definitely makes the choice difficult.

Okay, so my revised options thanks to all your helpful input:

i5, 280, ~$1150: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/zeroKFE...

i7, 280, ~$1260: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/zeroKFE...

I7, 290, ~$1410: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/zeroKFE...

Any other tweaks or modifications you guys would make to any of these options?

I know it's the most expensive one but that $1410 computer is going to get you a more mileage for less than $200 more then the next build. As you saw in those benchmarks the jump from the 280 to the 290 is significant. You also get another GB of ram with the 290 which is becoming more and more beneficial these days.

I know it's the most expensive one but that $1410 computer is going to get you a more mileage for less than $200 more then the next build. As you saw in those benchmarks the jump from the 280 to the 290 is significant. You also get another GB of ram with the 290 which is becoming more and more beneficial these days.

Yeah, the high end build is certainly my preference -- just have to see how the budgeting works out.

Well, the i7 4790k finally became available yesterday, after a long, nervous wait since I got the rest of the machine assembled a week ago :D. Thankfully, after plugging it in and attaching the heatsink the machine powered on and booted up just fine, all the components checked out, and at least for the last 12 hours or so it's been smooth sailing and low temperatures all around. Of course, I still haven't fired up any graphically intensive games yet (had to let my steam folder copy overnight), but knock on wood there.

Thanks again for all your help picking out the parts, and double thanks to Gumbie for putting me in touch with a good second hand R9 290!